1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to methods and systems for the transmission of synchronous video with compression.
2. Background of the Related Art
FIG. 1(A) shows the major components of modern computer systems, the computer 100 and display 102A. In the left is the computer 100 which includes motherboard, CPU, power supply, CD ROM/DVD ROM drives, RAM, and other components (not shown). Various different connections with the computer 100 are known, such as connection of a display 102A. One of the more recent such connections is the DVI system, in which a DVI cable, along with associated interface hardware and software in the computer 100 and display 102A, allows the display bandwidth of up to 3+ gigabits/sec of data when transmitted from the computer 100 to the display 102A.
As integration of technologies mature, it is possible to manufacture LCD panels with very large number of pixels so that a high-resolution display capable of displaying multi-million pixels can be obtained at an affordable price. Also camera sensors 102B are available today with multi-millions of pixels for high quality capture of a scene. Accordingly, it is desired to acquire and display very high quality video and images. In order to acquire or display such video and images, however, it is necessary to transmit them from the computer 100 to the display 102A or from the sensor 102B (collectively devices 102) to the computer 100. However, due to bandwidth limitations imposed by known interconnect standards, such as DVI, today, resolution is limited to about 2 mega pixels, whether data is required to be sent to (such as from a sensor) or from (such as to a display) the computer 100.
When transmitting video and image data, it is not only necessary to ensure that all of the data associated with each image is transmitted sufficiently fast, but control data that allows for the correct reproduction to occur must also be included. An example of such control data is vertical and horizontal sizes of the image and their corresponding synchronization signals.
Further, cables connecting between devices 102 to/from the computer 100 are relatively short, typically about 6 feet in length with the existing technology.
A new method, and apparatus associated therewith, of interconnecting between displays and the computer to which they are connected is needed. The present invention, in one aspect, increases this distance for aesthetic, organizational and ergonomic reasons. The present invention in another aspect removes the cable restrictions altogether by using wireless technologies in the place of the existing short thick cables.